Bush Mourns Sailors' Deaths

April 24, 1989|By PENNY BENDER Staff Writer

NORFOLK — Before a sea of white caps and crisp dark uniforms, President Bush this morning mourned the deaths of 47 sailors aboard the USS Iowa and promised the survivors "we will find out why" they died.

In brief remarks during a 30-minute memorial service inside an airplane hangar at the Naval Air Station, Bush gave soothing words to about 370 family and friends of the sailors who died Wednesday in the ship's No. 2 turret, which was ripped by at least two explosions and a fire in what was to have been a routine training exercise.

Afterward, the president and first lady Barbara Bush weaved through the metallic folding chairs and shuffled along the hangar's cement floor, offering personal condolences, hugs and handshakes.

It was standing room only in the building, with some 4,000 people. Behind the podium a giant American flag nearly spanned the width of the hangar; wreaths with red and yellow carnations flanked the podium and while the Bushes moved among the crowd of mourners after the service, many dabbed their eyes with handkerchiefs and wept.

During the speech, Bush passed his condolences on to the families of the dead and the Navy community as a whole. He called on them to embrace their memories of the dead.

"Let me say to the Iowa crew, I understand your grief. I promise you today we will find out why - the circumstances of the tragedy," Bush said.

Though the answer to why those particular seamen were claimed by death at this time might never be known, Bush said, "But of one thing we can be sure - this world is a more peaceful place because of the USS Iowa."

Bush, a Navy pilot in World War II, noted the Iowa's heroic role in that war and since. The fallen sailors have a place in that history now, he said. "They came from Hidalgo, Texas, and Cleveland, Ohio; from Tampa, Fla., and Costa Mesa, Calif.," to serve on a ship built long before they were born, he noted.

"To all who mourn a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a friend, I can only offer you the gratitude of a nation, for your loved one served his country with distinction and honor."

"And may God bless the USS Iowa and all who walk her deck."

Preceeding Bush's remarks were several prayers, both from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

The commander of the Iowa, Capt. F.P. Moosally, gave his own remembrance, starting his remarks by saying he remembered the men of turret No. 2:

"I remember their faces as they toiled at their guns, sweating an honest sweat," he said. "I remember turret two. They were the life, the spirit and the soul of our ship."

"The crew of the Iowa shared much with turret two. We worked side by side and shoulder to shoulder to build a team, a family, a common bond that can never be broken," Moosally said.

Joining the Bushes in their official task of consoling the survivors and bereaved families were several dignitaries, including Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney, Secretary of the Navy William Ball and several United States senators, including former Navy secretary John Warner, R-Va.

Outside, sailors and others from the base somberly listened to the president's and others' remarks on loudspeakers.

The fatal blasts that preceded today's memorial service occurred as the Iowa, with its 1,575-member crew, was participating in manuevers with the U.S. 2nd Fleet 330 miles northeast of Puerto Rico. Investigators on board the ship are trying to determine why there was an explosion in the turret when none of the three guns had been fired that day.

After the explosion, the battleship steamed to a location about 15 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico and the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, where the bodies were removed by helicopter and flown to Dover, Del. The Iowa and its crew returned to Norfolk Sunday.

Since the explosion, the Navy has declared a moratorium on use of the 16-inch guns on the Navy's three other battleships.

The Iowa explosion was the first such Naval disaster since Oct. 1, 1972, when 36 were killed when the center gun of turret No. 2 of the USS Newport News exploded.